linuxaudio.org

> So, what's a term that describes the essence, while having the same

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> connotation to all English speakers?

I think we'll have to work on that one!
> > I suppose that when you sign a contract,

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> > you've already acknowledged that trust has failed to be

> > established!

>

> That's a common misperception, and one that I'd take issue with.

> The *vast* majority of contractual agreements negotiated never wind

> up being the basis of a dispute.  

Unfortunately that's not my experience. As a freelancer, any imposed

contracts usually take away my rights rather than establish them. For

example, I once offered to write some extra training materials for

another department of the company, which was going through a rough

patch and needed to offer new courses. The management insisted that

the copyright in the course materials would be theirs not mine, even

though this was not part of my regular job. 
When I questioned this, I was told that anything I wrote while an

employee became their property, because I had agreed to this in my

contract. I said I had never seen any contract. The management

replied that by accepting payment, I had agreed to this unseen

contract. I'm sure this must be illegal anyway, but my point is that

my personal experience of people who insist on contracts is mostly

negative. 
> The reason for this is that,

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> properly approached, they are primarily a means of *communication*

> -- a way of setting out in a detailed and objective way just what

> is expected of each party, while ensuring that all parties are in

> agreement with those expectations.  As such, they serve to *reduce*

> the frequency of disputes.

Ideally, yes. I think this is why we wrote up a Policy document for

linuxaudio.org
> I

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> would argue that if you have no trust in another party, you should

> not be entering into a business relationship with them at all,

> contract or no.

A good point. If only the world of business was so ethical!
Cheers
Daniel